Tam Coc, the boat that is rowed with feet

Two hours south of Hanoi a river runs between limestone towers and through three caves, and the boats that carry visitors along it are rowed by one person, often with their feet. Tam Coc is the shorter of the two Ninh Binh boat trips and the one with the rice.

What is the Tam Coc boat trip?

Tam Coc is a stretch of the Ngo Dong river crossed by small metal boats that take two or three passengers, out and back in ninety minutes. The name means three caves, and the route passes through all three, each a low tunnel cut through a limestone hill.

Between the caves the river runs through paddy fields with karst rising on both sides. The boats sit low in the water and the perspective is the point: everything looks up.

The rowing is the other thing people remember. Many rowers work the oars with their feet, sitting facing forward with their legs out, which is a local technique rather than a show.

What does a Tam Coc boat cost?

A boat runs 150,000 to 200,000 dong a person plus the site entry, which is under ten dollars at about 26,000 dong to the US dollar. Boats take four, and buying the empty seats turns a shared boat into a private one.

The comparison is with Trang An at about 250,000 dong for a longer route. Doing both in a day comes to roughly 500,000 dong of boats, which the Ninh Binh page treats as the default.

Cash at the ticket window. The money guide covers which notes a rural ticket booth can change.

When do the rice fields turn?

The rice turns in late May and early June, for about a fortnight before the harvest. The valley turns gold from the water up, which is the image that sells Ninh Binh to most visitors.

The golden fortnight is also the most crowded, and the boats queue at the jetty. Going at seven in the morning is the difference between a river and a traffic jam.

Outside it the fields are green from July, flooded through the autumn, and stubble in winter. The rice year guide covers when each part of the country turns.

What is the sales pitch on the water?

Midway along the route, boats selling drinks and embroidery come alongside, and some rowers suggest buying one for them too. It is persistent rather than aggressive, and a polite no works.

The other half is the tip. Rowers are paid little of the ticket price and a tip of 50,000 to 100,000 dong is normal, but agreeing it at the start rather than being asked at the end removes the awkward ten minutes at the jetty.

None of this is a scam, and the scams guide covers the things that are. It is a low-paid job on a fixed ticket price, and the pitch is how the gap is closed.

What else is at the jetty?

Bich Dong pagoda sits a kilometre from the Tam Coc boats, built into the rock in three levels up a hillside, and it is free. Half an hour covers it and most boat visitors skip it.

Mua Cave is five minutes away by bike: about five hundred steps to the ridge and the view down onto the same river you have just rowed.

Bicycles are the way to move between them. The lanes are flat, the traffic is farm traffic, and the cycling guide covers what riding here is like.

What hour should you be on the water?

Take the first boats in the morning, or the last two hours of the afternoon. Midday on the water in summer is hot, exposed and queued.

The jetty operates through the day and closes in the late afternoon, earlier in winter. Boats stop selling before that, so a late arrival can find the last one gone.

Coach groups from Hanoi arrive between ten and noon, which is exactly the window to avoid — the two days in Ninh Binh route puts the boats first thing for that reason.

Is it better than Trang An?

Tam Coc and Trang An show different things rather than better ones. Tam Coc is rice, three caves and ninety minutes. Trang An is rock, more caves and up to four hours.

If you have one morning, take Tam Coc in the rice fortnight and Trang An at any other time of year. If you have a day, take both.

What decides it for most people is the hour they have left, and the Ninh Binh things to do page lays out the half-days around them.